What “The Thursday Murder Club” gets right about integrated retirement communities

Netflix’s new adaptation of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club has landed like a sparkling tonic: witty, warm and just subversive enough to remind us that later life can be gloriously full of mischief. Set in a retirement community, it sidesteps tired clichés to show older adults as capable, curious and connected. For those of us championing integrated retirement communities (IRCs), it doubles as a mainstream showcase of what good later-living design and operations can unlock: alleviating loneliness, building community, sparking engagement and, yes, having fun.

Below, we unpack how the film’s world mirrors best practice across the sector and where it invites us to go even further.

Beyond the body count: why the setting matters

Coopers Chase (the community at the heart of the story) is not a backdrop; it is a character. Residents gravitate to shared spaces, cross paths on purposeful walks, and rally around a common project, solving a whodunnit, that gives structure to their days and excuses to knock on each other’s doors. That is the essence of an IRC: private homes plus on-site amenities, services and support, integrated to enable independence with connection.

When people live in a place designed around social infrastructure such as restaurants and lounges, hobby rooms and gardens, and activity calendars that respond to resident voice, community stops being something you have to “go out and find” and becomes part of daily life.

Four benefits the film puts front and centre

• Alleviating loneliness - Loneliness is not simply being alone; it is being unseen. The Thursday sleuths create a rhythm of contact, regular meet-ups, doorstep check-ins, spontaneous café chats, that models how IRCs can reduce isolation by design. The message is simple: when connection is convenient, it is more likely to happen.

• Community with purpose - The club gives residents roles, the archivist, the strategist, the negotiator, mirroring the way thriving IRCs empower people to contribute skills, not just consume services. Purpose builds belonging; belonging builds wellbeing.

• Everyday engagement - From clue-hunting to spirited debates, the film shows engagement as a spectrum: intellectual, social, physical. IRCs that plan for variety, book circles and walking groups, tech clinics and film clubs, create a marketplace of micro-moments where people can “opt in” according to energy, mood and ability.

• Real, unembarrassed fun - Laughter threads through the story, driven by friendships, cheeky rule-bending and a shared sense that life is still expansive. It is a reminder that play is not a phase we grow out of; it is a muscle we keep using when environments make it safe to do so.

Representation matters, especially for women

As a network that supports women across operations, real estate and leadership in later living, WiRL is delighted by how the film centres capable older women: problem-solvers, organisers, strategists, friends. It challenges gendered ageism and shows audiences and prospective residents the kind of agency we want every woman to feel in later life. On screen and off, designing for dignity and autonomy is not a “nice to have”; it is the operating system of modern IRCs.

A sector call to action

• Operators: Lean into resident-led purpose. Co-create programming, publish participation data (what works, for whom), and iterate fast.

• Developers and investors: Fund social infrastructure as seriously as bricks. Amenity and staffing line items are value drivers, not cost centres.

• Local leaders and planners: Treat IRCs as community assets that relieve pressure on acute health and social care. Enable delivery through clear planning policy and partnership.

• Media and storytellers: Keep writing older women as leaders, not side notes. The audience is ready and waiting to see their own potential reflected back.

Our takeaway at WiRL

The Thursday Murder Club is not a documentary, but it is a gift: a popular, joyful vision of later life lived together. It shows the magic that happens when people have proximity, purpose and places to gather. That is the promise of integrated retirement communities at their best and it is what we, across WiRL’s network, are working to scale: environments where loneliness is alleviated, community is everyday, engagement is effortless and fun is taken seriously.

If you are building, operating, investing in or championing later-living, let us make the most of this cultural moment. The credits may roll, but the work and the opportunity continue.